Meghalaya cops bring back BJP leader accused of running sex racket

Hapur (UP)/Shillong: A court in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday granted the Meghalaya Police a two-day transit remand of BJP vice-president Bernard N Marak, who is accused of running a sex racket at his farmhouse in the North-eastern state.

Marak was arrested at Hapur in UP on Tuesday, hours after a look out notice was issued against him by the authorities in Meghalaya.

Marak, a former militant leader, had gone missing following a police raid which started on 22 July night and ran till the next morning at the farmhouse at Tura in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district.

The Meghalaya police said they arrested 73 people from the farmhouse and rescued six minors — four boys and two girls.

We have produced the accused in court today. The police were granted 2 days of transit remand by a Hapur court, West Garo Hills district police chief Vivekanand Singh told PTI.

He is being brought to Tura.

The West Garo Hills district administration has instituted a magisterial inquiry into the incident leading to the arrest of the BJP vice president, a senior official said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Rezia Ch Sangma was instructed to complete the inquiry into all the illegal matters that were allegedly carried out at that farmhouse within two weeks.

The police in Pilkhuwa in Hapur and the Special Operations Group (SOG) took Marak into custody near a toll plaza at the Ghaziabad border on Tuesday upon learning that a look-out notice was issued against him.

A look-out notice is issued to make sure that a wanted person is not able to leave the country.

A court in Tura had on Monday issued a non-bailable warrant against the BJP leader.

The BJP is a part of the state’s ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), led by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma of the NPP.

Marak, a militant-turned-politician, has claimed he was innocent and alleged he is the target of political vendetta by the chief minister and fears for his life. The state BJP also backed his claim.

There were speculations that in the assembly elections next year, the saffron party would field Marak against Sangma.

The Meghalaya chief minister told reporters on Tuesday that he did not issue any order to put the BJP vice-president behind the bars.

Marak is facing charges under various sections of the IPC and the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956. He has more than 25 criminal cases registered against him since the early 2000s across the northeastern state.

Marak was the chairman of the now-disbanded armed rebel group ANVC(B), a breakaway faction of the Achik National Volunteer Council, before he joined the BJP and won the tribal council elections from Tura.

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